Re: Discovery Network Channels - Going Soon?

Hi Eronec, that's not the way we want you to feel.

Your current subscription will remain the same. We will be reaching out to customers subscribed to the Education and/or Lifestyle basic group by end June 2018. The letter will contain information on the new channel launches, as well as rebates, in appreciation of your patience.

Re: Discovery Network Channels - Going Soon?

Hi Priya,

Customer do not cares whether Starhub is paying a "fair" or "sensible" or "unsustainable" price to the Company's content distribution partners. Customer cares what they pays and what they get, no-nonsense please.

It is a lamb excuse to use a commerical deal that is supposingly between two companies to justify StarHub's decision is in customers' best interest, but the real fact is that this is in the best commercial interest of StarHub.

Another fact is that StarHub is trying very hard to play down the matter by offering no announcement on either the Company's website front page or under the Pay TV section. These FAQs are hiding under Support > TV > More topics together with a rather synchronised act to send a "very last minute" offical notification that may only reach customer in a matter of hours before Discovery's channels are ceased to be aired on and from 1st July 2018.

The luckiest thing is that we, cosumers, are absolutely not lack of replacements in today's market for any of StarHub's portfolio of services.

Re: Discovery Network Channels - Going Soon?

We always work towards meeting our customers’ entertainment needs and minimising any inconvenience to them. Hence, we are disappointed that we were not able to reach an agreement with Discovery. Our firm belief is that quality content should come at a sensible price, without our customers having to bear the unsustainable increase in cost.

Re: Discovery Network Channels - Going Soon?

There is always the option for subscribers to terminate their contracts with Starhub. Under the Code of Practice for Market Conduct, pay tv providers must not require a subscriber to pay any amount for terminating a subscription tv service if the termination is consequent upon the pay tv provider exercising its right to unilaterally increase the subscription fee or cease the provision of any material channel under the agreement (see paragraph 3.5A). A material channel is defined in paragraph 3.8.

Under the Code, subscribers have the right to terminate your contracts with Starhub 30 days after it removes the channels (see paragraph 3.5A(a)(ii)). Please take note of this time limit.

If Starhub refuses to allow you to do so (as Jocelyn Loh from Starhub did when I spoke to her) then you have the right to lodge a complaint with the IMDA under paragraph 10.6.1 and request that the IMDA takes enforcement action against Starhub.

Someone should come up with a template letter of complaint that everyone can use ...

Re: Discovery Network Channels - Going Soon?

We always work towards meeting our customers’ entertainment needs and minimising any inconvenience to them. Hence, we are disappointed that we were not able to reach an agreement with Discovery. Our firm belief is that quality content should come at a sensible price, without our customers having to bear the unsustainable increase in cost.

Could you perhaps enlighten us as to why Starhub is not able to reach an agreement with Discovery Networks? Discovery have raised their fees and Starhub have arbitarily refused it, would that be correct? The correct course of action would be to approach your customers and advise them of the reason and the cost implication. The customers can then make the decision if they want to pay additional to keep the channels or not.

Starhub's unilateral decision to reject Discovery Networks offer without consulting its customers is not, as you put it, "...work towards meeting our customers’ entertainment needs and minimising any inconvenience to them." This is both inconvenient to your customers and not even attempting to meet their needs.

I would hazard a guess, that the present subscriptions don't cover the present cost of the channel, and the increase in cost will widen that margin. In the face of rapidly falling subscribers numbers, any commitment to the Discovery Networks channels for another year runs the risk of an even greater loss to Starhub.

This same matter will no doubt surface with other channel providers in the future so I expect this is just the start of the demise of Starhub PayTV.

As direct result of this decision by Starhub its stock has now hit a 9 year low.

Re: Discovery Network Channels - Going Soon?

There is always the option for subscribers to terminate their contracts with Starhub. Under the Code of Practice for Market Conduct, pay tv providers must not require a subscriber to pay any amount for terminating a subscription tv service if the termination is consequent upon the pay tv provider exercising its right to unilaterally increase the subscription fee or cease the provision of any material channel under the agreement (see paragraph 3.5A). A material channel is defined in paragraph 3.8.

Under the Code, subscribers have the right to terminate your contracts with Starhub 30 days after it removes the channels (see paragraph 3.5A(a)(ii)). Please take note of this time limit.

If Starhub refuses to allow you to do so (as Jocelyn Loh from Starhub did when I spoke to her) then you have the right to lodge a complaint with the IMDA under paragraph 10.6.1 and request that the IMDA takes enforcement action against Starhub.

Someone should come up with a template letter of complaint that everyone can use ...

Below is a email answer that I have received from Starhub. I do hope other affected Starhub customers have better luck in requesting a ETC waiver.

--------------------------------------------

Dear *****

We refer to our conversation on 26 June 2018.

We wish to share that your HomeHub service is under contract until ***** 2019.

Hence, should you wish to terminate the contract due to the channels cessation, you will be charged for the early termination charges of $***.00 (Before GST) as of 26 June 2018.

If you require further assistance, please do not hesitate call us on our Customer Care hotline at 1633 (+65 6820 1633 from overseas). We will be happy to assist you.

Re: Discovery Network Channels - Going Soon?

The reason I subscribed to Homehub is because of Discovery channels. Does anyone intend to cancel contract ? Since the reply from Starhub is we must pay early termination fee, can anyone advise on how to let them know about IMDA's reply ?

Re: Discovery Network Channels - Going Soon?

Basically, the reply from IMDA doesn't offer much. While it did say that some customers may be affected by the 'more than 20% removal of channels' rule, it makes no mention or clarifications on how the number of channels are calculated in the different packages.

For example, if you look at the Starhub complete TV listing, a lot of the channels listed are 'on demand' channels. Of the 13 channels listed under Education group currently, 5 are on demand channels. Are these 5 on demands included in the calculation of the '20% rule'. I would argue they should not be included since they are not fresh contents are merely provides a mean for subscribers to 'catch up' on shows.

Let's do the maths.

For the 1st round of Discovery cessation, 4 of these (Discovery, Discovery Asia, TLC and Animal Planet) were from the Education group. So excluding the 'On Demand' channels, there were 12 channels before the Discovery cessation. So that's 33% removal of the total number of channels.

If we include the 'On Demand' Channels, the number of channels goes from 20 to 13. So that's 35% removal of the total number of channels.

So if you only subscribe to Education group, then it looks like you can terminate your contract without penalty.

Of course, I don't think any of us are able to just subscribe to Education group. And things probably get a bit more complicated when you factor in the other channels in your subscription package.

IMDA should not offer a generic statement like 'The removal of the Discovery channels has reduced the total number of channels in some StarHub subscribers' pay-TV subscriptions by at least 20 per cent.'

It will be more helpful if they can come up with a table or something and let consumers know that if you subscribe to A+B+C groups, you can terminate without penalty?

You can't help but get the 'you're on your own' vibe from IMDA. Starhub must be laughing quietly.